Fusion and Plasma Physics Careers Day

Introduction to Fusion and Plasma Physics Careers 

Join the Department of Physics and the Plasma Physics Group for our Fusion and Plasma Physics Careers Day! This short introduction will outline the day’s programme, and the line up of talks from leading employers in the fusion and plasma physics sector. There will be plenty of opportunities to network during the coffee and lunch breaks. In the afternoon, explore employer stands to discuss current vacancies, future career opportunities, and developments in the field. You’ll also have the chance to speak with Yasmin Andrew and Robert Kingham, co-directors of the MSc in Physics with Fusion and Plasma Physics, to learn more about the course and pathways to employment and postgraduate study.

Biography

Yasmin Andrew is a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Department of Physics at Imperial, where she is also the Co-Director of the MSc in Physics with Fusion and Plasma Physics and Head of Student Experience. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, a member of the IOP Plasma Physics Committee, the UK representative for Plasma Physics at the International Union for Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) and an Editorial Board member of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A. She is currently a collaborator on the international fusion experiments MAST-U, DIII-D and ST40 in the areas of the L-H transition, H-mode pedestal, edge, scrape-off layer and divertor plasma transport. Her research interests include the study of plasma turbulence, transport barrier dynamics, complex systems and plasma self-organisation, through experiment, data analysis, statistical framework development and application, and information geometry.

Robert Kingham is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at Imperial, where is also Co-Director of the MSc in Physics with Fusion and Plasma Physics. He is a theoretical plasma physicist working for over 20 years in the areas of Laser-Plasma Interaction (LPI), Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF), High Energy Density Physics (HEDP) and more recently in Magnetic Confinement  Fusion (MCF). The main thread of his research has been kinetic theory and modelling of electron transport including coupling to magnetic-field dynamics.  He and his team have developed several kinetic and extended-MHD simulation codes including IMPACT and CTC to study this.  His other research interests include non-linear optics of laser propagation in plasma, instabilities and twisted light.  Since 2016, he has been increasingly working in the field of tokamak exhaust physics.  He is currently a Visiting Fellow at UKAEA and collaborates extensively with the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy.

Career Planning & You

In this session, Jess will offer a reminder of the support available from the Careers Service for final year and postgraduate students as well as walking you through how to use Plan:Me – a self-coaching tool to support decision making and action planning for your next career steps.

Biography

Jess Popplewell is the Careers Consultant for Physics at Imperial. She has previously delivered talks for the Institute of Physics and the Royce Institute at Manchester University, with a special focus on how physicists can tell effective stories of their experiences to future employers and potential funders.

Power Exhaust Physics and Integrated Scenario Design at Tokamak Energy

The first part of this talk surveys our group’s exhaust physics program on ST40, a high-field spherical tokamak. The programme is organized around three focus areas. The first is scrape-off-layer transport: how heat deposited in the core plasma is channelled through a narrow boundary layer toward the wall, and what sets the width of that layer, since a narrower layer concentrates heat onto a smaller area and makes it harder to handle. The second is power exhaust, where the goal is to remove some of the heat before it ever reaches a solid surface by radiating it away as. The third is plasma-material interactions, which concerns how the plasma impact the wall condition over time, and how coating the plasma facing surfaces with various materials affect the plasma performance. Taken together, these three areas trace a natural progression: understanding how heat is transported to the wall, reducing it before it arrives, and managing what remains.

In the second half, we turn to ST-E1, Tokamak Energy’s pilot power plant design, and address the question of how a fusion plasma can be brought to the burning state. In typical tokamak operations, the access to flat-top current is usually done through inductive current drive from the transformer action of the central solenoid, with heating power applied shortly before or after the flat-top current is reached. Because ST-E1’s compact geometry leaves little room for solenoid, the plasma current must instead be driven largely by external coils and auxiliary heating and current drive. We present time-dependent simulations of candidate ramp-up scenarios and discuss the main constraints in terms of coil flux availability and exhaust compatibility. Sensitivities to the various plasma physics assumptions, limitations of the current modelling capabilities, and critical open questions will be highlighted.

Biography

Laura Xin Zhang is a plasma physicist and team leader at Tokamak Energy, where she leads the Integrated Core–SOL–Divertor team. Her research spans scrape-off-layer transport, power exhaust, and plasma-material interactions on the ST40 high-field spherical tokamak, together with core-edge integrated modelling and scenario design for Tokamak Energy’s pilot power plant, ST-E1. She earned her Ph.D. in plasma physics from Princeton University, where she developed reduced-physics models for core-edge coupled simulations in tokamak plasmas. She collaborates with researchers across the US and UK on experimental characterization of current day devices and predictive modelling in support of the design of future tokamak reactors.

European Student Opportunities in Fusion Research

The EUROfusion Consortium coordinates fusion Research & Development as well as Training and Education activities across its 202 affiliated institutes, national laboratories, and universities in 29 countries in Europe supporting over 1000 students each year. The talk will cover study, travel opportunities, funding and resources for MSc and PhD students in Europe and internationally.    

Biography

Eva Belonohy is the Training and Education Manager of the EUROfusion Consortium and chair of the EUROfusion Operations Network.

Eva has a PhD in Physics from Eotvos University (Budapest, Hungary) and an MBA from the Imperial College Business School (London, UK). She has 15-years’ experience in tokamak operation with a full license to operate ASDEX Upgrade, MAST and JET as a physics pilot. During her 8-year in the European JET Operations Group, she supported the operational preparations of the JET campaigns, training and management of physics pilots and led the technical rehearsals for tritium operation. From 2019 she led the EUROfusion JT-60SA integrated commissioning team and from 2021 was the Operations Subproject Leader for the Preparation for ITER Operations EUROfusion work package, where she established the EUROfusion Operations Network.

Since 2023, Eva is the Training and Education Manager at the EUROfusion Consortium responsible for supporting Master and PhD students across 120 universities, the post-graduate EUROfusion Grants and the management of the EUROfusion Engineering Training Programme. She has authored the European Education Programs Overview, the EUROfusion Knowledge Management Strategy and the EUROfusion Human Resource Survey and Workforce Development Plan. Since 2020, Eva is the European scientific secretary and organizer of the JT-60SA International Fusion School merging engineering, physics, diagnostic and operational aspects of annually changing school themes. As a member of the EIROforum working group on Training and Career Development, she facilitates joint activities with the 9 largest research centers in Europe including CERN, ESA and ESO.

First Light Fusion is a UK-based inertial fusion company developing a new approach to fusion energy known as FLARE – Fusion via Low-power Assembly and Rapid Excitation. Our work combines cutting-edge plasma physics, pulsed power, high-energy-density physics, target design, diagnostics, data-science, AI, simulation and engineering.

Based near Oxford, our multidisciplinary team develops and operates large-scale experimental facilities to explore the physics and technologies needed for future inertial fusion energy. We offer opportunities for physicists, engineers and scientists to work on challenging problems at the boundary between fundamental research and real-world technology development.